Social media presents an opportunity to engage with existing clients and a way to attract and engage with new prospects. The question is: how to use social media for small business marketing.

Unlike traditional marketing, social media provides businesses a way to interact with their community online, in a public forum. That can be scary to some business owners, but it’s the kind of interaction customers want.

As online relationships develop, businesses report good lead-to-close rates from their social media marketing efforts. Regardless of what it is you sell or who you sell it to, you can grow your brandand boost sales using social media.

How To Use Social Media For Small Business Marketing

1 – Use social media to deliver a soft-sell message. Well-crafted tweets and posts are not viewed as marketing. Consequently, you will get more shares and retweets, both of which translate into more web traffic.

2 – Use social media to drive targeted traffic to your website. In 140 characters or less, a Tweet can drive a lot of traffic to your website. You should also post to groups on Facebook and LinkedIn to reach a larger audience. Post teasers that link to articles on your blog to boost traffic.

3 – Use social media to boost your site’s SEO. Search engines know which pages are earning traffic and which are not. While writing good content is the cornerstone of SEO, driving extra traffic to your pages with social media is a necessary part of the process. It’s a one-two punch combination that delivers results.

4 – Use social media to promote business activities. There’s no better way to leverage business activities such as a charity fundraiser or a booth at a trade show. Shares and retweets might even lead to a feature in local or national media.

5 – Use social media to boost promotions. Besides keeping your company’s name in front of potential buyers, social media is an ongoing opportunity to give clients incentives to buy. Use different coupon codes for each social channel to see which social network drives the most sales.

6 – Use social media to find new customers. You can use tools like Tweetdeck to set up streams based on hashtags. It’s a way to find people that are looking for the products and services you sell and a way to grow your followers organically.

By responding to a tweet with a helpful suggestion and a link, you interact with your audience and generate sales. And don’t forget to answer questions on Quora. Links you post today will drive traffic to your site for years to come.

Closing Thoughts – Social Media For Small Business

Social media is a low-cost way to market your products and services. Unless you have a large budget, it’s best to pick two or three platforms that you can focus on every day. Don’t spread yourself too thin by trying to have a presence everywhere.

Remember the social part and let a bit of personality shine through in your social media presence. People will resonate with the human element and the personality of your team.

Lastly, be active and comment on high-traffic websites. Most comment forms allow you to post a link back to your website. It’s a way to build backlinks to your site and you’ll be surprised at how much additional traffic this will generate.

Leave your comments below and share your experience. Which social media platforms work for you?